Kazaringa National Park is located in Assam, way up in northeast India, up in that part that looks like it’s being pinched off by Bangladesh and Myanmar, and it felt completely different from the rest of India I visited. Well, maybe not completely different - the traffic was still scary and the cities were still too noisy, crowded, and dirty - but it was cooler, greener, and full of tea plantations, and the local residents definitely have the look of central Asia. Odd that I didn't realize it until I saw someone holding a “to Bhutan” sign at the airport, I was only a few hundred kilometers from the Nepal and Bhutan borders in Assam, and it gave a different flavor to the area.
 |
| Elephant? I don't see any elephant. She must be hiding in the tall grass. |
 |
| This little guy was the camp puppy, who was very good at begging at the table, avoiding attempts to shut him out from begging at the table, and getting scared by every sudden movement or noise. Also, being adorable. |
 |
| Black-necked storks, which I also saw in Australia |
 |
| Is he trying to hide behind that clump of grass? |
Once again, it was a relief to get out of the city and on the way to the village where I would be staying, on the boundary of the National Park. As I mentioned in the last post, I wanted to visit Kaziranga to double up on my chances of seeing a tiger in India, but they also have some of the highest populations of one-horned rhinos in India, as well as elephants, and it’s a birding hot spot as well. I didn't glimpse a tiger there, but I saw dozens of rhinos and elephants and just generally enjoyed a relaxing few days cruising around in a jeep and looking at wildlife. I stayed in a tent cabin in another eco-camp, which was quiet, cozy, and only a few minutes from the park entrances. And just like every other place I stayed in India, the food was amazing and plentiful; every meal I said there was no way I would be able to finish everything, and yet by the end I was faced with a table full of empty serving dishes.
 |
| A very lucky moment: a mother and older calf walked out onto the road just behind our jeep. |
 |
| I would not want to be a water buffalo. Just imagine trying to walk around carrying those horns all day. |
 |
| I didn't see a tiger in Kaziranga, but we did find several tiger tracks in the mud |
The only other points I’ll make are 1) rhinos are extreme funny-looking up close, 2) if you ever have the chance to get to India, visit Kaziranga, it’s everything a national park should be, and 3) while I was there, I couldn't stop thinking “This place looks exactly like a green version of an African savanna”, which is funny, because I've never seen an African savanna in person. It’s definitely a danger of long-term travel that places begin to look the same (that’s certainly the case for me now in major cities everywhere), but I find it more amusing when my brain decides someplace reminds me of somewhere I've never been. I've been thinking of this as the “ghostly” effect - “ghostly” being a word referring to something I've never seen, yet I use it to describe something I’m seeing. And that’s your meta, overly-analyzed thought for the day.
 |
| Late afternoon on the lake |
 |
| A lovely African, I mean Indian, savanna |
 |
| A pair of hornbills |
No comments:
Post a Comment